Testing my new Sigma 19mm f/2.8 DN Lens

Early this year, I accidentally dropped my mirrorless camera right before going to the venue of my parents 50th anniversary party. I was mad at myself and disappointed because I was supposed to use it for taking videos during that special event. But as I always do, when I have important places to go to, I always bring two bodies with me so that I have a backup, and this practice served me well.

My Sony NEX 6 still turns on, but it couldn’t recognize the lens anymore. When I returned home, I tried attaching my Nikon lens using an adapter and the camera was able to recognize it. So it was just the lens that broke and not the camera which was a big relief for me.

For my birthday this year, I decided to use my birthday money to buy a lens for my Sony NEX 6 mirrorless camera to replace the broken one. I considered several lenses but mostly wide-angle lenses because for the type of photos I take most of the time, I know this type of lens will get much use. I have never bought a third party lens before, but these days, third party lenses are up to par with the name brand lenses we love. Since the Sigma 19mm art lens has very good reviews, I decided to go with it. I decided to get the black instead of the silver one because the silver one looks like scratches on the body will show easily.

This post is not a technical review of the lens. I’m writing this just to share my first impression of this lens. I have only had it for a few days, and actually just took it with me during a casual walk, not really meant to take time to photograph, just snapped a few photos.

Here are the photos I took showing normal view and 200% view. These photos have been slightly processed in LR. Not having a lot of experience with it yet, but so far I like what I see.

In choosing my lens, I ended up with a short list which consisted of an ultra-wide lens from Rokinon, Sony 20mm pancake lens and Sigma 19mm lens. What’s important to me was that it would fit in my little belt bag that I carry when I go for a walk so Rokinon was already out. Sigma 19mm has better reviews than the Sony 20mm pancake lens so even though Sigma is a little bulkier, I ended up choosing it because it can still fit in my belt bag. I would have loved an ultra-wide lens but if it’s not convenient to bring, I’m most certain it will not end up with me most of the time. I like convenient and practical gear. Sigma 19mm is also significantly cheaper than the Sony 20mm which is a big plus.

I can’t wait until I get to shoot with this lens some more. It’s sharp, the colors are rich and I didn’t see any chromatic aberration. The lens is portable and the price is right. I think this is a good buy and I look forward to shooting with this for many years.